Team collaboration and coordination will be necessary if health systems are to become more accountable for patient-centered outcomes. In particular, frontline healthcare workers have been identified as having the most critical role in engaging with patients.
Team collaboration and coordination will be necessary if health systems are to become more accountable for patient-centered outcomes. In particular, “frontline healthcare workers” have been identified as having the most critical role in engaging with patients. These individuals—who include professionals such as medical assistants, community health workers, and pharmacy technicians—are often the first point of contact for many consumers. Investing in these frontline workers will benefit any future-thinking health organizations, say Kavita Patel, managing director for clinical transformation and delivery, and Jeff Nadel, research assistant, both of Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform.
“The adoption of a care-team model is a strategy that many organizations are using today. Bringing together a broad range of skills and perspectives across an interprofessional care team is critical to accommodating the many physical, emotional, and social needs of patients,” Ms Patel and Mr Nadel say. “The team may include primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, health coaches, and mental health professionals. The composition should depend entirely on each patient's needs.”
Those health systems that invest in a care-team model can expect to increase operational efficiency, improve staff satisfaction, and see financial payoffs. As well, new care models such as the accountable care organization and patient-centered medical home actually require that members from all levels of the healthcare hierarchy participate—not just physicians. Frontline workers will be critical in improving the “patient experience.”
Leonie Heyworth, MD, MPH, and Steven R. Simon, MD, MPH, explain in a recent article in The American Journal of Accountable Care:
“New recognition of patient experience has grown as health plans and health systems have begun to link measures of patient satisfaction to provider payment, helping providers and healthcare systems to understand patient perceptions of care delivery and establishing the concept of ‘pay for experience’ in clinical care. At the heart of primary care is the patient-provider relationship, and as ‘pay for experience’ broadens its reach, upholding mechanisms necessary to revitalize patient-provider communication will be necessary to maintain a strong foundation of primary care.”
Around the Web
On the "Front Lines" of Health Reform: Reinventing Team-Based Care [Brookings]
Enhancing Patient Experience in an Era of “Pay for Experience” [AJAC]
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen
Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
Listen
Insurance Coverage Limits JAKi Therapy Access for Patients With AA, Especially Non-White Populations
April 25th 2024A survey study showed major barriers to Janus kinase inhibitor (JAKi) therapy for patients with alopecia areata, especially for non-White patients who face higher rates of being uninsured and struggle more to afford the treatment.
Read More